I’m apathetic about reboots in general, because what I want most from a movie-going experience is imagination. And rehashing an old story usually doesn’t result in something mind-blowing or ground-breaking. Such is the case with “Total Recall.”

Unhappy with his life — despite being married to Lori (Kate Beckinsale) — Douglas Quaid (Farrell) goes to a memory-implanting company so they can give the memory of a lifetime; he wants to be a badass secret agent who gets the girl and saves the world. There’s only one problem: Apparently Quaid already has that memory, because that’s who he is. What follows is a wham-bam blend of chase scenes and whirlwind fisticuffs as Quaid and Melina (Jessica Biel) figure out what bad guy Cohaagan (Bryan Cranston) is plotting.

Wiseman creates eye-popping special effects reminiscent of “Minority Report” and “Blade Runner,” and fills the film with booming action sequences from the get-go. There are even some fun callbacks to the original.

Unfortunately, the retooled narrative is poorly executed, exposition is wedged in willy-nilly and it all feels empty. While the cast is good (I like Farrell better than most critics do), Beckinsale is the only one who’s obviously having fun with a character.